Web-surfing Phones Riding High

The Korea Timesreport that the mobile Internet is the hottest issue among early adopters of technology in Korea. The three most popular handsets these days according to a local technology website are all touch-screen phones specializing in Web browsing ― Samsung’s Haptic, Pantech & Curitel’s CanU and LG’s Touch Web Phone. The above picture features a user searching for video clips on YouTube utilising a Samsung Haptic phone with a pencil tip.

These so-called full-browsing phones are selling at impressive rates. Samsung says that it has sold around 30,000 Haptic phones in 15 days since its launch on March 25, which is about the double the daily sales of other new models. Its hefty price tag ― 797,000 won ($800) without a rebate or a discount ― hasn’t been discouraging customers, the company says.

So when can we expect these mobile phones to catch on in our local market?